• by Andy Nibley , June 5, 2014

Today’s large premium publishers spend a lot of time closing small deals that only provide a minimal amount of revenue.  How much time? We recently did a study that showed 50% of a typical publisher’s deals accounting for only 10% of its revenue.

Clearly, publishers could have a much larger margin if there was a more efficient and cost-effective way to do these smaller deals. And imagine the effect on the delivery and customer support on larger deals if publishers could redeploy most of that 50% of their operational cost back to the deals that make up 90% of their revenue.

The problem is actually even worse. Publishers give up millions of dollars in high-CPM, incremental revenue because they often turn down small to mid-sized buyers. They simply don’t have enough resources or time to close deals with all the buyers who want their inventory. At the same time, buyers are tired of spending time and wasting money trying to make deals through an endless stream of back-and-forth emails with publishers.

There is a better way.  Programmatic direct, or “automated guaranteed,” as the Interactive Advertising Bureau calls it, is not just a solution for large agencies, trading desks and big brand marketers. It can also work for publishers who do a ton of business with small to medium-sized buyers. 

Publishers can find immediate cost savings by using automated, programmatic direct systems.  They will get a high level of control and visibility, and make those deals easier and less time consuming.  Programmatic direct solutions are inherently efficient, enabling publishers to accept smaller recurring buys, quickly renew deals, and process more changes and optimizations.

With this new efficiency, publishers can accept deals from more buyers -- deals they might have rejected previously. Furthermore, publishers who start automating deals will be able to reach thousands of media buyers directly, attracting incremental revenue from buyers that their sales teams did not have the time to call on previously.

Both publishers and advertisers have only just begun to see the power of programmatic direct solutions. Done correctly, they can:

• Enable multiple levels of targeting, so that smaller buyers can see what they’re going to get.
• Help publishers easily analyze which products are being purchased by smaller buyers, so they can be selected for inclusion in the programmatic direct platform.
• Allow buyers to initiate changes or optimizations, with publisher approval, as their orders run.
• Let buyers use the same system to access inventory across many of comScore’s top 100 publishers.

As the programmatic direct space evolves, more publishers are realizing that these new solutions can ensure that a vast array of small, medium and large buyers who want to purchase their inventory will be satisfied.